Good news: Small businesses hiring at fastest level in 10 years

Maybe you didn’t hear about it because it didn’t involve Anthony Scaramucci, but we got very good news this week on a matter that actually affects a lot of your lives. Small business hiring is picking up in America. Not only that, but the pay is good because quality workers are hard to find.

So if you’re one of them and you’re interested in a new opportunity, you should know that current market conditions are very much in your favor.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses reports that a seasonally adjusted net 19 percent of owners planned to create new jobs in July. That’s up four points from the previous month, and the best performance since December 2006!

And if you’re looking for a job, and you’re capable and dependable, there’s even better news for you. Employers are dying to find people like you. NFIB reported that 87 percent of owners who want to hire qualified employees are having trouble finding them. And 19 percent of owners said finding qualified workers is their biggest problem.

Here’s what this shows me:

First, President Trump’s new, pro-business policies are giving small business owners confidence they can start hiring and growing again, because there is no longer an administration that’s going to bash them, tax them or try to regulate them out of existence. And I think small business owners also realize that as we move to more pro-growth economic policies, consumers will have more money to spend and that’s going to put them in a stronger position to grow.

Second, the Obama policies of the past eight years created far too many disincentives for people to work, and that’s why it’s so hard for businesses to find qualified employees. Obama made it far too easy for people to get food stamps, subsidized health insurance and all kinds of other things without working, so he reduced some of the normal urgency a person without a job would feel to go out and find one.

That’s how we ended up with the lowest workforce participation rate since the Carter Administration, and that’s why qualified people are hard to find. The workforce is not in good shape right now. We need to get more people interested in working again, and we need to get them reoriented to the idea work is good, and is in their best interests.

In a broader sense, people need to remember that governing is about results for the people, not about all the drama that people in Washington like to talk about. When small businesses are hiring at the fastest rate in more than 10 years, that’s the kind of result we’re looking for.

People tend to give presidents too much credit when things go well, and too much blame when things don’t go well. It’s the business community that’s responsible for its success or failure, and those who are doing the hiring now deserve our praise for their hard work. But public policy absolutely makes a difference, and if nothing else I’m sure business owners are glad they finally have a president who doesn’t look at them as suspects, or as targets, the way our previous president did.